Town's Sewer Expansion Project Delayed

Work Pushed Back To 2006 As Dep Reviews Report

March 05, 2005|By CHARLES STANNARD; Courant Staff Writer

CHESTER — An ongoing state Department of Environmental Protection review of the planning study for the town's sewer expansion has pushed back the expected start of construction for the project to spring 2006.

The delay in construction, which was expected to begin later this year, has set up a potential traffic conflict with the state's plan to replace a bridge on Route 148.

First Selectman Martin Heft said Friday that the report prepared by Fuss & O'Neill Inc. of Manchester, the project engineers, was submitted to DEP last year and is expected to receive the required approval in the next few weeks. ``We need to get the report approved before we can move forward,'' he said.

The report details the planned expansion of the town's small sewer system to include about 200 additional properties on and near Main Street and Route 154. The system, which was put into operation in 1983, serves 30 commercial and residential properties in the downtown village. Voters last summer approved an agreement with Deep River that would allow the town to send up to 40,000 gallons of wastewater per day to the Deep River Wastewater Treatment Plant on Winter Avenue after the expansion project is complete.

Heft said the project should be put out to bid in November for an anticipated start of construction in April 2006 and completion by the late summer of 2007. He said the delay in construction puts the work underway in the same time period as the state Department of Transportation's planned replacement of a bridge on Water Street (Route 148). The bridge project, which is expected to begin in summer 2006, will require a detour of traffic through Main Street and the downtown village.

``We'll need to get the work on Main Street done before the detour goes into effect,'' Heft said. He added that ``nothing is set in concrete'' about the start of the bridge project and that the state DOT is willing to work with the town to ensure a smooth flow of traffic through the construction.

Heft said the five-member water pollution control authority created last year has already made one key decision about the project -- connections to the sewer system will be made at the property lines, not at the house connections of the individual properties. Property owners will be expected to pay the connection costs for their property. Heft said extending the connections onto individual properties would create right-of-way issues and add to the total cost of the project.

Engineers have estimated the total cost of the sewer expansion at $3.8 million, with most of the funding coming from a 20-year, low-interest loan from the state. The town received a $500,000 state Small Town Economic Assistance program grant to pay for planning and design work. The annual payment on the loan, which will be funded by general tax revenues, is estimated at about $128,000.

Heft said the funding authorization for the project would be presented to the town's voters in a bonding referendum expected in September. A public hearing will precede the vote.

Heft said the water pollution control authority would begin reviewing the project area, including decisions on the specific streets and properties to be served by the system, at its March 16 meeting.

The sewer project will not extend north of the town's community center building near the intersection of Main Street and Route 154.